


Not Coincidence, But Fate

by ThatVermilionFlyCatcher



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Belle is not dead, F/M, I had this silly idea and needed to write it down, The prophecy and the Edge of Realms part was fake, it is mainly Regina/Gideon but in the end it has to do with Rumbelle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-06 11:17:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12816351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatVermilionFlyCatcher/pseuds/ThatVermilionFlyCatcher
Summary: When Regina fails to wake Zelena, she thinks she is on her own to save Henry and break the curse. She didn't expect to find the answer to her prayers hitchhiking by the roadside.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So... I was thinking about some theories that had been going around the last few days and this is the result. It might be silly, but I had fun writing it :D
> 
> As English is not my first language, I apologize for any mistakes you may find in this fic. Grammar, vocabulary, and spelling corrections are more than welcome.

“Off we go!” Regina told Henry as she put her travel bag on the backseat of her chevette shark and seated behind the wheel.

She told herself over and over again that she should stay calm. They had come all the way to San Francisco for nothing. She had tried everything to wake Zelena up, to no avail. She was on her own again. Rumple had refused to help her —She knew very well that he was awake— and to wake Hook —well, the Hook from the Wish Realm— would be even more dangerous than letting him under the curse. _Come on, Regina, there must be something you haven’t thought of yet._ One of the things Regina hated the most about this situation was that she didn’t have anyone to talk about what was happening. Even during the first curse, she had some kind of communication with Rumple, but now… she felt that she couldn’t think properly when she couldn’t think aloud.

They drove for hours, speaking about Lucy and the book and everything that had been happening lately at Hyperion Heights. By the time they were getting close to Salem, Oregon, the sun was about to set. A guy hitchhiking by the side of the road caught her attention. The afternoon was chilly, yet the stranger was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. His long and disheveled hair and beard betrayed that he hadn’t been able to groom properly for months. Regina stopped the car and asked:

“We are going to Seattle, serves you?”

The big brown eyes of the man lighted up, and Regina could have sworn she had seen him before.

“Of course, thank you!”

She unlocked the back door for him, and he jumped in.

“I’m sorry… I might not have the most pleasant smell” he said “I wasn’t able to shower for the last few days.”

“Just open my bag” Henry said, smelling already the stranger’s odor. “The one on the top. you’ll find a can of deodorant there.”

“But first, clean your hands,” Regina intervened, picking a package of baby wipes from the glove compartment.

The stranger thanked both of them. As he cleaned his hands and put on some deodorant, Henry asked:

“Why do you have wipes on your car?”

“I… I tried to adopt a few years ago. It didn’t work out. I think I’m not over it still.”

It was so difficult to work with two sets of memories! She thought of Jefferson. There’s no crime without punishment, it seems. An uncomfortable silence settled between them. Regina finally asked:

“What’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Gaston. I’m going to Seattle to reconcile with my father. We have been estranged for a while… to be fair, he threw me off when I dropped off school.”

“And why are you going back, then?”, Henry inquired.

“Well, maybe he isn’t that mad at me now.” The man fidgeted with the packet of wipes “I figured that if I tried to do the brave thing, bravery would follow.”

Regina stopped the car abruptly. It couldn’t be possible. Yet, it was. She glanced again at Gaston, who was giving her a concerned look. The guy was every inch the son of Rumplestiltskin and Belle, the one she had seen in the last photographs that Rumple had showed to her in Jacinda’s realm. How could it be possible? He hadn’t been there when the curse engulfed them. He might have been trying to reach to his father when it hit.

“Are you OK? Maybe I should take the wheel.”

Henry’s question brought her again to the situation at hand.

“I’m fine. I’m thinking that we should stop to have dinner somewhere.”

And turning on the car again, they resumed their journey. They stopped at a bed and breakfast to buy dinner and then continued on their way to Seattle. When they were crossing the outskirts of the city, Gideon asked:

“So, where are you going exactly? Wherever you can leave me would be fine for me.”

“Hyperion Heights”, answered Henry.

Gideon opened his eyes wide.

“I’m going to Hyperion Heights too.”

“Maybe we know your father.”

Regina held her breath.

“Mmmm… he is Hosea Smith.”

 _Jeremiah_ , Regina thought. Of course, the curse wouldn’t give him memories of being Weaver’s son.

“Hosea? Do you know him, Roni?”

“Yes. Yes. He comes from time to time to the bar.”

“Do you have a bar?”

Regina smiled softly.

“Well, it’s nothing fancy, but it gathers the people together.”

“That looks awesome to me.”

Regina felt the heat coming to her cheeks. Was she… blushing? _Please, Regina, not this, not here, not now._ Oh, the irony. She had picked Rumple’s son from the road the same way she had done years ago with Belle. But this time she wasn’t willing to use him as a bargaining chip. There had been enough separations and heartbreak already and that vicious circle must be stopped.

“Hey!” Henry exclaimed “I finished the repair of Jacinda and Sabine’s truck… You’ll need someone to replace her.”

“That’s right.” Regina said cautiously, trying to think of how to bend this to her advantage “What do you say?”

“Are you… offering me a job? You don’t know me,” Gideon answered astonished.

“Well, I know Hosea, and he is a good man. Apples never fall that far from the tree.”

“I… I’ll love to work at your bar.”

Regina thought to herself, trying hard not to smile, that if his reputation was something to hold to, once awaken he would spend half of his shift reading. Henry’s phone started to bleep.

“Hello?... Fine, fine, we are back already… What?... ok… I’ll be there in no time… Goodbye.”

Henry ended the call.

“It was Rogers. Something about the Victoria Belfrey’s case. He wants me to see some papers. I told him I’ll join him at the station.”

“Do… Do you think you have something he could wear?”

“Oh…” Henry had forgotten the man in the backseat. “Well, if tight clothes don’t bother you too much…”

Gideon shrugged and Regina gave Henry a look.

“Oh, right. Here, the keys. You just… feel at home. I’ll be back in an hour or two. Can you drop me here?”

Once Henry was off, Regina drove to his apartment.

“Why don’t you take a shower while I look for some clothes for you to put on?”

Gideon tried to conceal a blush, but failed miserably.

“I’ll just leave them on the floor at the bathroom door and you pick them when you are ready.”

“Ok.” he answered relieved, giving her a lopsided smile.

He headed to the bathroom and Regina devoted herself to find some clothes for him. She smiled sadly when she opened the doors of Henry’s wardrobe. It seemed like yesterday when he was a boy and she would help him choose what to wear any given day. She found a pair of oversized sweats and a stretched out t-shirt and coupled it with socks and underwear and left it all at the bathroom’s door. She then headed to the living room and plopped on the couch, resting her face on her hands.

By the time the bathroom door creaked for the second time and the hesitant voice of Gideon called her name, Regina had already made a plan. It wasn’t a brilliant one, nor a long term one, but she was hopeful that the outcome of it would show her what to do next.

“Yes?” she said aloud.

“Would you help me? I don’t really trust myself with this.”

He was standing at the bathroom door with a hair clipper in his hand.

“I’ll… I’ll pay him back for this… As soon as I earn some money, of course.”

She smiled.

“I got this. Try to find a stool, a broom and a dustpan, while I go and pick my hairdryer and a pair of scissors from the car.”

When she got back he was sitting at the stool in front of the bathroom mirror over the sink, the broom in one hand and the dustpan in the other.

“Are you sure you want to cut it off?”

“You won’t like to see my hair falling on everything at the bar, would you?”

“You are right,” she answered chuckling.

“So, let’s start with the scissors. I don’t want to break Henry’s clipper.”

He smiled and she put a towel over his shoulders and started to cut his hair. She cut it a little over the shoulder, internally amused at the idea of the son having the hair at the length his father used to wear it many years ago. Then she started drying it, combing it with her fingers. Gideon tried to convince himself that the heat on his face was the hairdryer’s fault. She then applied the clipper, cutting his hair short on the sides and leaving it a bit longer on the top. Gideon was praying for Henry to return. She finally stopped and asked him if he liked it. He nodded and she, with a satisfied smile, took the towel off and blowed with the hairdryer the last strands of hair that lingered on his neck. In that moment Henry knocked at the door and as Regina went to open him, Gideon sighed relieved.

“So?” Regina was asking Henry when he arrived at the living room.

“Nothing important, really. As we expected, we weren’t the only ones this woman has wronged. Wow” he said turning towards Gideon “There was a man behind the hair.”

Regina muffled a chortle with a cough.

“Well, now that you are home, I should go to _my_ home and try to get some rest, _and_ I advice you to do the same.”

“Yes, mom.” Henry said, and now Regina had to mask an upset expression with a smile.

“Ah, Gaston.”

“Yes?”

“I have to visit someone tomorrow morning and I need someone to accompany me. Would you come with me?”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll come to pick you up at 8:00. Good night, guys.”

“Good night, Roni.”

 

***

 

When Regina arrived to the door of Henry’s apartment, Gideon was already waiting for her at the doorstep. Once he was inside the car, Regina asked him:

“Have you ever been on a play?”

“Actually yes, but no more than one or two. I’m not the best actor around.”

“That’d be enough. We are going to visit a friend of mine… he is a detective. He was shot recently and as a consequence, he is a bit altered. So, no matter how strange the things he says or does are, I want you to play along, ok?”

“Ok. Understood.”

They stopped in front of an apartment building and took the elevator to the fifth floor. Then they took a corridor by the left and Regina knocked at the first door. Several seconds passed but there was no movement on the other side. She knocked again and said in a loud voice:

“Weaver, I know you are in there and I won’t leave until you open the door to me.”

Several seconds more passed until someone on the other side started to open the door. Regina pulled Gideon so he would stand exactly in front of the doorstep. The door flew open and a shocked Rumplestiltskin stood frozen.

“...Gideon.” He whispered.

“Hi,” the man said with a lopsided smile.

Rumple pulled him into a hug.

“What are you doing here?” he finally asked “You should be at the academy. Come in, come in.”

He then remembered Regina was standing there.

“Your majesty…” He gestured her in with a crooked smile.

Gideon was trying to think of what to say next. The man was really as altered as Roni seemed to imply. _It wouldn’t hurt to rehearsal the meeting with my father_ , he thought to himself.

“I should have came before.” He started once Rumple had put a kettle on the fire and motioned them to sit on the couch. “I shouldn’t have left you alone.” Gideon couldn’t understand why he felt like he wasn’t acting when he looked at the detective.

“What are you talking about? You didn’t know the curse was going to bring me here.”

Gideon panicked. He didn’t know what to do next, so he recalled his worst memories and started to cry. “I’m sorry.”

Rumple hugged him, not caring anymore about what Regina saw or didn’t see —Gideon’s apparition changed many things—  and told him:

“Don’t worry, son. I’ve missed you dearly.” And that said, he kissed Gideon’s forehead.

There was a swoosh and Gideon jerked his head.

“Papa?”

Understanding dawned on Rumple’s eyes. He looked at Regina and snarled:

“He wasn’t awake.”

“Now, he is.”

“Is mom here?” Gideon interrupted.

Rumple looked at him.

“Son…”

“We must find her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“A few months after you left to help Henry, a dove arrived, telling us that there was a dark curse in the making. I decided to come and mom refused to stay behind. The last thing I remember is crossing a portal and extending my hand to take hers… and next thing I was Gaston Smith.”

“No, it cannot be possible,” Rumple said standing up. He went to the bookshelf and picked a photo album. He opened it close to the end and showed Gideon pictures of the three of them at the Edge of Realms, the last time Gideon had went to visit them.

“No, no, this… this is fake. If it had happened, I should be plus fifty years old.”

“You were at the academy. We were living at the edge of realms, waiting for the sun to set. Time runs differently there.”

“But… why?”

“That day on the library, when you told us you’ve been accepted at the academy, your mother had found a prophecy that said that when the Dark One found eternal love at the sun brightest’s set, a path would appear to where the darkness would finally be put to rest. The sunset was her death.” His voice wavered.

“No, no, that was not what happened. I remember clearly. After I told you that, I left the room and someone knocked at the door of the castle. It was a messenger telling that Henry was in danger and that they needed you. You packed and went away, promising to be back soon. I remember perfectly mom kissing you at the doorstep and telling you that she would see you again.”

“That’s what your mother would have said, yes. She told me that once…”

“But I remember… I found your father on Jacinda’s realm. He told me the same story he just told you,” intervened Regina.

“The future is not always what it seems.” Rumple muttered under his breath.

“What?”

“Belle never believed in prophecies. She didn’t believe the prophecy that said that Henry would be my undoing.”

“But…” Regina interrupted.

“Your majesty, you and I are on the curse by design. He is by accident.”

“But, who can benefit from making you and I believe that Belle is dead?”

“Someone who wants the Dark One’s powers, of course.”

Regina pursed her lips.

“What now?”

“Follow the lady.”

Regina smirked.

“So, Roni has to go and open her bar, Weaver has to go to the station and Gaston…”

“Should find his “father” and try not to be late on his first day of work.”

“I… I asked him if he wanted to work at the bar with me.” Regina hurried to say “I just needed to have him around enough for this to happen. There is no need of it now.”

“Oh, but I really want to. ‘Nothing fancy, but it gathers the people together’. I want to work at a place like that.”

Regina smiled and tried to change the subject.

“We will break this curse and we will find Belle. I promise.” There was a silence. She stood up and then said:

“Well, time to open the bar.” and headed to the door.

Gideon followed her.

“Regina…”

She turned around.

“Why didn’t you wake Henry?”

She gave him a sad smile.

“If he wakes and the curse breaks, then…” she swallowed a lump in her throat “he dies.”

He looked at her with his warm brown eyes and taking her hand between his, told her:

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

She gave him a watery smile.

“You are just like your mother. Making Harry Potter references.”

They both laughed. There was a moment of silence and then Regina, withdrawing her hand, said:

“See you later.”

“See you later,” Gideon answered, as he looked the queen in jeans and a tank top walk down the corridor and disappear into the elevator. Everything was going to be all right, he told himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as some of you wanted a follow up, here it is :)

Gideon went from table to table, taking orders and delivering drinks. Rumple, seated at the bar, was sipping a glass of whiskey and looking at Regina.

“Every time you look at him that way, you mother, wherever she is, laughs herself sick,” he told her as she wiped a glass.

“Is this all because he gets to wear slacks and an ironed dress shirt and you don’t?”

“At least one of us gets to wear some decent clothing.” he retorted before finishing his drink.

Gideon joined them.

“Anything new?”

Rumple denied with his head. They have been searching for Belle for almost two weeks, unsuccessfully. 

“If we had magic… All it would take would be a tracking spell… or a locator spell in the worst case.”

“A tracking spell would work only if she were in Hyperion Heights, and if Gideon showed up outside of it… she can be anywhere.”

“Right. It is even possible that she couldn’t cross and is still on the other side, or that she crossed the portal after the curse hit. We just don’t know.”

Rumple’s grip on the glass tightened and Regina took it from his hand.

“If I had magic, I’d let you break some things, but in our present situation, I cannot risk you hurting yourself.”

“We must keep searching. You will see her again. We will see her again, papa, I promise.” Gideon said.

One of the patrons called him and Regina and Rumple were left alone again.

“You have protected his heart, right?” Regina blurted out.

He nodded and she let out her breath. “Good.”

He looked at her with pity and asked:

“You still have nightmares about that, don’t you?”

She pressed her lips and fixated her gaze on the sink.

“I thought regret wasn’t your thing.”

“I don’t regret Henry. But there are many things I have done that I am not proud of.”

Graham. She shuddered, thinking that the huntsman had been but a few years older than Gideon.

She raised her eyes and met Rumple’s gaze.

“I know what I must do.”

Rumple smiled bittersweetly and left. Regina took from behind the counter a copy of Henry’s book and placed it on the polished surface with a heavy sigh. There was something on those brown eyes that made her feel like her insides melted everytime he looked her in the eye. He had a heart so pure and loving… It had been beautiful to be on the receiving end of his warm smile, his comforting touch and his reassuring words, but he was better off as far from her as possible.

The last patron left the bar and Gideon took the tip and wiped the table. He remembered the night prior: he had invited her to gaze the stars with him. He had taken her by the hand and they had rushed through the stairs of the old building, giggling like teenagers, until the chill of the evening welcomed them and refreshed their heated cheeks at the rooftop. He remembered her smell and the sparkle of her smile when he took her hand to trace the constellations with her finger and told her everything he had learned about the stars at the academy. There was something about her… He couldn’t quite put a finger on it… it was like a spell of soft addiction, something that made him think of her whenever silence settled in his mind. Maybe today he could invite her to something that better resembled a date. An ice cream? Dinner? He approached the counter smiling, but Regina’s countenance told him that there was something wrong.

“Gideon,” she said before he could ask anything “there are some things you must know. I think…” her voice faltered and she shifted sighing. “Just… read it. Please” she added, offering him the book.

“Ok. Thank you, I’ll do it.” he said taking it “but first I want to know what’s making you upset”. He reached out to her but she withdrew her hand.

“No. Please. Just… go, read it. You’ll find out sooner than later.”

Gideon gave her a hurt look and she looked away.

“Alright, I’ll put myself to it right now. Good night.” he tried to catch her eyes, but she didn’t look at him. He turned around and left. Once his tall figure disappeared from view, she broke into sobs.

 

***

 

Rumplestiltskin found his son just where he thought he would be. He looked pale, reading Henry’s book by the light of a street lamp. He approached him and seated on the bench by his side.

“I can’t believe it” the young man finally said.

Rumple looked at his hands and remained silent. Several minutes passed until he said, matter of factly:

“She asked me today if I had protected your heart.”

His son turned to look at him.

“You see, the truth is that you can repent from your wrongdoings… But they will haunt you your whole life, because most of them cannot be undone.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know. You are all grown up now, and as stubborn as your mother. Even if I told you what to do, you’ll end up doing what you think is right. Your mother’s intuition didn’t fail in the end, and I am confident that yours won’t either.”

And that said, he squeezed his son’s shoulder and left him alone.

Soon, Gideon left the square too and strolled through the streets, deep in thought. He was still in shock because of what he had just read. His father had done terrible things too, even if they were not like Regina’s and yet he was a changed man. Why couldn’t it be the same with her? She had asked if his heart was protected. He tried to think how he would feel if he had assaulted, tortured or murdered someone. He shuddered. His hand went to his pocket and grabbed a coin with the effigy of a queen that one of the patrons had left at a table. He squeezed it. She had given him all the truth about her, in all it’s horror and ugliness, just because she thought that he deserved it. Gideon opened his hand and stared at the coin. He took air and speeding up his pace, headed to the bar.

Once there he found Regina asleep laying on a couch, her knees against her chest and her hands clutching the ring she had on a chain around her neck. He sat softly on the coffee table in front of her, laying the book beside him. He stroked her face and she woke up startled.

“shush, shush, it’s just me, Gideon.”

“What are you doing here?”

He tried to smile, focusing on the weight those things he had read before would have on her conscience rather than in the the facts themselves.

“I want to thank you for giving me the truth.”

“You deserved it.”

“You know, the woman I read about in the book might have been you, but she isn’t you anymore. You found me, helped me, reunited me with my father, gave me a job and let me know your past without hiding anything from me. You trusted me, and I, in return, trust you.”

Regina didn’t know what to say.

Gideon draw the coin from his pocket and offered it to her.

“A queen... for the queen.”

She smiled weakly and took the coin.

“Where did you get a pound?”

“One of the patrons left it at a table.”

She snorted. “I bet your potterhead self would want to see this.”

She rouse, leaning on Gideon’s arm to stand up. She then headed to the register and opening it, drew a golden coin. Gideon’s eyes widened.

“A galleon?”

“A galleon. Another “tip” someone left the other day.”

Gideon reached out to pick the coin, and it warmed up and glowed when he touched it with his fingers. Regina and him exchanged surprised glances. He examined it closer and discovered a legend around the edge, written in fairy language:

“ _ Some souls extinguish themselves without illuminating _ ” he read aloud and added, pressing the coin: “ _ and others illuminate without extinguishing themselves” _

The coin glowed again and the caption changed:

“Gideon! it’s me.”

The young man smile breathless and looked at Regina.

“It isn’t a Galleon, it is a  _ fake galleon _ . She found us.”

“Mom, where are you?” he concentrated again on the coin.

“Storybrooke. Undoing the curse.”

“How did you know?”

“Portal closed. Second one left me here. Saw Henry.”

“What we should do?”

“Poisoned hearts at the start, cleaning hearts at the end.”

“But, how did you?”

“Convinced Henry to go college. Need change inside curse.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Kiss Rumple.”

Gideon clutched the coin and put it carefully on his pocket.

“What does all this mean?” Regina asked.

“The portal I opened closed behind me. When another one opened, it left her in Storybrooke. She saw Henry there and deduced the curse included some kind of time travel. She convinced him to go to college instead of setting off for the realms. But she needs us to do something from the inside.”

“Cleanse hearts.”

“Exactly.”

“But, how are we going to cleanse Henry and Hook’s hearts?”

“She didn’t say  _ their _ hearts, she just said  _ hearts. _ Secrets, fears, all those things can poison a heart.”

“So, I take that you already have a plan.”

He smiled sheepishly.

“Wait a minute. If she convinced Henry to attend college, then the curse won’t be cast in first place.” She raised her eyes and looked at him. “That’s clever. Drizella’s curse is unbreakable, but it doesn’t mean it cannot be undone. But… I don’t understand how this thing ended up here.”

“Maybe she just found someone who left this kind of weird tips at Granny’s and made so that he or she came here and did the same? It was written in fairy language. I know of very few people who can read it, and neither Drizella or Goethel know it.”

Gideon’s face fell a little.

“Henry and Ella won’t meet.”

“They are true love” she tried to reassure him “they’ll find each other somehow.”

They looked at each other and realisation downed on them. He opened his arms and pulled her on his embrace. She leaned on his chest and he rubbed with his hands her cold arms. They remained in silence like that for several minutes until Gideon said in a hoarse voice:

“Let’s go.”

He took Regina’s hand and they ran towards the community garden. They stopped at the well. He took both her hands in his and they looked into each other’s eyes.

“What now?” Regina asked.

“Let’s do this,” he answered, struggling to keep his voice steady. “I’ll go first.”

He gazed the bottom of the well and then looked back to Regina.

“Regina, I love you.” he finally said, breaking down.

“And I am afraid of losing you” she sobbed “I just found you.”

The floor beneath them had started to crumble. They embraced.

“Look at me.” he told her cuping her cheek “If it was coincidence… then, it won’t really matter; but if it was fate… our paths will cross, no matter what.”

Their lips crushed together, and they fell into oblivion.

***

Nobody knocked at the door of the castle when Gideon told his parents that he had been accepted into Elphame’s academy. No prophecy about the sun’s brightest set appeared, and around a year later Gideon finally convinced Belle and Rumple to move to the Land Without Magic, where they could grow old together, far from the influence of the curse, while he tried to find a way to break it at the academy. Another year passed until a message from Dove told him that his parents, now settled on a little town in Scotland, had adopted a little girl of lively eyes and strong character, called Josephine. He smiled and packing lightly, set off to meet his new sister.

***

As every Wednesday, Regina walked from her house to the town council. She had been for years now the “queen” of Storybrooke. As mayor, she got to help everyone and everyone considered her a mother, or a least, a very good aunt. But now that Zelena had moved with Robin to California and Henry was in college, she arrived every night to a cold and empty house. She was everyone’s refuge, but she didn’t have a refuge for herself. Autumn leaves rolled by her boots as she passed in front of Game of Thorns. She passed the shop but then changed of idea and retraced her steps. Maybe a calla would raise her spirits. She opened her coin purse and when she drew out the money a pound, her pound of luck, one she couldn’t recall when or where she got, rolled out of it and along the sidewalk, stopping against a man’s shoe. The man picked it up, and a pair of warm, brown eyes looked at her and said with a lopsided smile:

“A queen for the Queen”

Regina couldn’t explain to herself in that moment why she felt like it wasn’t coincidence, but fate.

**Author's Note:**

> Questions? Suggestions? There's something you liked/didn't like of my fic? Leave me a comment!


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